Drilling device



Nov. 1, 1966 L. A. D. PAULSON ETAL 3,282,356

DRILLING DEVICE Filed Dec. 2, 1963 38 153113 II I\ 2 34 2O 36 FIG. 4

INVENTORS LOREE A0. PAUL s0/v bl JOHN W ADAMS F" BY I i A/// 1 LWJ ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,282,356 DRILLING DEVICE Loree A. D. Paulson and John W. Adams, Phillipsburg, NJ., assignors to Ingersoll-Rand Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Dec. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 327,362 4 Claims. (Cl. 175-103) This invention relates to rock drilling apparatus, and more particularly to the use of a rock drilling apparatus within a building.

Presently, when it is required to drill a hole centrally through the floor and the underlying formation of an elevator shaft to install a hydraulic cylinder for a hydraulically operated elevator, various types of drills such as churn drills or calyx drills are used. With these types of drills, in particular when drilling is to be performed in unfavorable formations, the results are poor alignment of the hole being drilled and slow progress of drilling operations. Further disadvantages of the use of these types of drills are that the mountings for the drills, such as tower structures and rigs, are to be erected outside of the drilling site either within or outside of the building, requiring support, drive, and control cables to run through the building to the outside mountings, usually causing interference with work being done in those areas even remote from the drilling site.

With the present invention, however, tower structures and rigs are eliminated, rigging of the drill is considerably simplified and limited to the drilling site only, and drilling operations are substantially faster relative to the performance of the conventionally used drills.

It is an object of this invention to provide a drilling arrangement with which the presently used mountings are eliminated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a drilling arrangement with which drilling operations are performed faster than heretofore experienced.

Yet another object of this invention is to .provide a drilling arrangement with which drilling operations are considerably simplified.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will be obvious from the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows a longitudinal section of a portion of the elevator shaft in which a drilling device is positioned for drilling operations through the bottom and the underlying material of the elevator shaft,

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the elevator shaft taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows,

FIG. 3 shows the centralizer means, partly in section, for the rear end portion of the drilling device, and

FIG. 4 shows the centralizer means for the forward .end portion of the drilling device.

The drilling arrangement according to this invention is shown in FIG. 1 in its preferred embodiment, and comprises a drilling device including a down-the-hole gang drill 12-of the type invented 'by Ewald H. Kurt and John W. Adams and disclosed in US. patent application, Serial No. 186,248, filed April 9, 1962. Drilling device 10 is positioned in an elevator shaft 14 suspended from a suitable support such as-an I-beam 16. I-beam 16 extends transversely of the elevator shaft through openings 18 temporarily made in two opposing side walls of the elevator shaft. As shown in FIG. 1, the drilling device 10 is positioned in a centralized position ready to start drilling operations to drill an opening through the center of the bottom 19 and the underlying material of the elevator shaft 14.

The down-the-hole gang drill 12, formed by :a plurality of independently operative down-the-hole percussive drills mounted in a cluster or unit, is connected at its rear end to drill steels 20 which are rotated to rotate the gang drill 'by a rotary head or drill motor 22 by means of a spindle 24 driven by the rotory head 22. The gang drill is fed operating pressure fluid through the hollow drill steels 20 from. a conventional source of supply (not shown) and the drill steels are simultaneously rotated by the rotary head, all of this being carried out by means similar to those used for a commonly known single downthe-hole drilling device such as shown in US. Patent No. 2,886,004, issued May 1959 to W. A. Morrison.

In order to maintain the proper position of the drilling device during operation thereof to drill an opening through the bottom and the underlying material of the elevator shaft substantially in axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft, use is made of the elevator guides 26 furnished in the elevator shaft to guide the elevator (not shown) during its operation in the elevator shaft. Accordingly, centralizer means 28 and 34 are provided to be positioned at, respectively, the rear end portion and the forward end portion of the drilling device to cooperate with the elevator guides 26 to maintain the drilling device in a proper drilling position during drilling operations thereof.

Centralizer means 28 includes a central portion in the form of a clamp 30 within which the rotary head 22 is rigidly held against rotation. Radially disposed from the clamp 30 are wing sections 32 which are at one end adjustably connected to the outer end portions of clamp 30, and at the other end slidably engaged with the guides 26 of the elevator shaft. Wing sections 32 are evenly spaced from the center of clamp 30. Since guides 26 are positioned parallel to each other and to the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft, and evenly spaced from the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft, the rotary head 22 of the drilling device is held by centralizer 28 in a central position relative to the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft while it is longitudinally moved along and guided by guides 26. The adjustable wing sections of the centralizer provide for adaptability to the widths of the various elevator shafts within which the drilling device is to be operated.

Centralizer means 34 is provided to maintain the forward end portion of the drilling device in axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft; Accordingly, centralizer 34 is positioned in the lower or forward end portion of the elevator shaft and includes a central portion in the form of a bushing 36 having an inner diameter slightly greater than the outer diameter of the drill rods 20 to permit rotation of the drill rods in bushing 36. A pair of opposing wing sections 38 is adjusta bly connected to the outer ends of bushing 36 in a manner similar to the connection of the wing sections to centralizer 28 to provide for maintaining the forward end portion of the drillingdevice centralized, and for adaptability to the widths of the various elevator shafts within which the drilling device is to be operated. It is to be noted that centralizer 34 may be held against longitudinal movement along guides 26 in any suitable manner such as clamping the wing sections 38 against guides 26. With this arrangement the drill rod at the lower or forward end portion of the elevator shaft is held in axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft while the drill rods are permitted to be rotated and simultaneously moved longitudinally.

In order to feed the drill into the hole being drilled through the bottom of the elevator shaft and the underlying material there-of or to retract the drill from the hole being drilled, a suitable type commonly known hoist 56 is provided to either raise or lower the drilling device. Raising and lowering of the drilling device is achieved by means of a cable 58 reeved' about sheaves 60 and 62, sheave 60 being connected to I-beam support 16, and

sheave 62 being connected to support the drilling device by means of arms 64 mounted on centralizer 28.

Operation When a hole is to be drilled centrally through the bottom of an elevator shaft and the underlying material thereof, the height of positioning I-beam support 16 and the number of drill rods to be used is determined by the depth of the hole to be drilled. In this instance, as illustrated in FIG. 1, drilling of an opening through the bottom of the elevator shaft and the underlying material thereof requires a drilling device including two ten-foot length drill rods 20. The drill rods are screwed to each other to form a drill string, the rear end of the drill string being connected to the forward end portion of spindle 24 of the rotary head 22 while the forward end of the drill string is connected to gang drill 12.

Gang drill 12 is of the rotary percussive down-the-hole type, pressure fluid to cause percussive action of the drill being conducted through the interior of the drill rods to drill 12 while rotary action of the drill is effected by transmission of rotary motion from spindle 24 of the rotary head 22 to the drill by means of the drill rods in a well known manner. As the hole through the bottom of the elevator shaft and the underlying material thereof is to be in axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft, centralizers 28 and 34 cooperate with each other and with the elevator guides 26 of the elevator shaft to maintain the drilling device in a proper axial position relative to the longitudinal axis of the elevator shaft. While the drilling device is moving forwardly, drill 12 gradually but rapidly penetrates the material to be drilled, centralizer 28 guided by guides 26 maintaining the rear end portion of the drilling device, the rotary head 28, in a proper drilling position relative to the hole being drilled. Centralizer 34 maintains the portion of the drilling device in the forward or lower end portion of the elevator shaft in a proper drilling position. Penetration of the drill into the material being drilled is controllable 'by hoist 56 by suitably feeding the drill by means of the cable 58.

To provide for unscrewing of the drill rods from each other in case more than one drill rod is used, a rod breaker 40 incorporated with centralizer 34 is furnished. Rod breaker 40 includes a bushing 42 having an inner diameter slightly greater than the outer diameter of the drill rods and positioned rearwardly of bushing 36 of centralizer 34. A conventional type pressure fluid motor 44 having the rear end of the cylinder portion of the motor pivotally connected to a support 46 welded or screwed to the outer wall of bushing 42 while the outer end of the piston rod of the motor is pivotally connected to a support 48 welded or screwed to the outer wall of' bushing 36 in circumferentially spaced relationship relative to support 46. Extension or retraction of the piston rod of motor 44 will cause rotation of the bushings in opposite directions, one relative to the other.

Bushing 36 is provided with two diametrically opposing openings 50, while bushing 42 is provided with a series of diametrically opposing openings 52. The distance between an opening 50 in bushing 36 and a longitudinally spaced and corresponding opening 52 in bushing 42 is equal to the distance between two longitudinally spaced and opposing openings 54 furnished in the end portions of the drill rods to cooperate with the rod breaker for unscrewing the drill rods from each other, as will be explained hereinafter.

When the proper depth of the drill hole is reached, hoist 56 raises the drilling device until the joint between the drill rods 20 is at the centralizer 34 such that opening 50 in bushing 36 registers with opening 54 in the upper end of the lower. drill rod, and one of the openings 52 in bushing 42 registers with opening 54 in the lower end of the upper drill rod. A rod is then inserted in opening 50 to extend through bushing 36 and the upper end of lower drill rod 10, while another rod is inserted in the associated opening 52 of bushing 42 to extend through bushing 42 and the lower end of upper drill rod 10. Motor 44 is then operated to rotate bushings 36 and 42 in opposite directions thereby rotating the drill rods in the proper opposite directions to unscrew the drill rods from each other. When more than two drill rods are used, each joint between the drill rods can be broken likewise. The joint between the spindle 24 and the upper drill rod may be broken in the same manner as hereinbefore described.

It is to be understood that although only one embodiment of the invention is shown and described, the invention is not confined to the exact features shown as various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. The combination with an elevator shaft having longitudinal guide means positioned interiorly of said shaft and opposing each other comprising,

(a) a support within said shaft displaced longitudinally from the bottom of said shaft,

(b) a rock drilling device of the rotary percussive type suspended from said support to be lowered to and retracted from the bottom of said shaft, and

(c) a centralizer slidably mounted on said guides having a central portion to receive and maintain said rock drilling device in a central position relative to said elevator shaft.

2. The combination with an elevator shaft having longitudinal guides positioned interiorly of said shaft and opposing each other comprising,

(a) a support within said shaft displaced longitudinally from the bottom of said shaft,

(b) a rock drilling device of the rotary percussive type suspended from said support to be lowered to and to be retracted from the bottom of said shaft,

(0) a first centralizer slidably mounted on said guides having a central portion positioned coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft to hold the upper end portion of said drilling device coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft, and

(d) a second centralizer rigidly mounted in said shaft having a central portion positioned coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft to slidably receive and maintain the forward end portion of said rock drilling device in a central position relative to said elevator shaft.

3. The combination with an elevator shaft having longitudinal guides positioned interiorly of said shaft and opposing each other comprising,

(a) a support within said shaft displaced longitudinally from the bottom of said shaft,

(b) a rock drilling device suspended from said support to be lowered to and to be retracted from the bottom of said shaft, said rock drilling device including a rotary drill motor, a plurality of drill steels connected in end to end relation to each other to form a drill string having one end connected to said drill motor to be rotated thereby, a gang drill mounted on the free end of said drill string to be rotated thereby, and means to conduct pressure fluid to said drill motor and said gang drill for operation thereof,

(c) a first centralizer slidably mounted on said guides having a central portion positioned coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft to hold said drill motor of said drilling device coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft,

(d) a second centralizer rigidly mounted in said shaft having a central portion positioned coaxially with the longitudinal axis of said shaft to slidably receive and maintain said drill string of said rock drilling device in a central position relative to said elevator shaft, and

(e) means mounted on said second centralizer to co- 5 operate with said drill steels to effect rotation of one of said drill steels relative to the other of said drill steels. 4. The device claimed in claim 3 in which the outer 6 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,105,091 1/1938 MacKay 175-103 X end portions of said centralizers are radially adjustable 5 JACOB L NACKENOFF Primary Examiner relative to the central portion of said centralizers.

N. C. BYERS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. THE COMBINATION WITH AN ELEVATOR SHAFT HAVING LONGITUDINAL GUIDE MEANS POSITIONED INTERIORLY OF SAID SHAFT AND OPPOSING EACH OTHER COMPRISING (A) A SUPPORT WITHIN SAID SHAFT DISPLACED LONGITUDINALLY FORM THE BOTTOM OF SAID SHAFT, (B) A ROCK DRILLING DEVICE OF THE ROTARY PERCUSSIVE TYPE SUSPENDED FORM SAID SUPPORT TO BE LOWERED TO AND RETRACTED FROM THE BOTTOM OF SAID SHAFT, AND (C) A CENTRALIZER SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE HAVING A CENTRAL PORTION TO RECEIVE AND MAINTAIN SAID ROCK DRILLING DEVICER IN A CENTRAL POSITION RELATIVE TO SAID ELEVATOR SHAFT. 